Cornish musician, born on 12 September 1923 at Killeworgy farm near Newquay and educated at St. Austell Grammar School. A banker by profession, he declined to leave Cornwall for a London post, but became chairman of the Cornwall Institute of Bankers and represented the county on the national Board in London. He has served on various connexional bodies, including the Central Finance Board, the Stationing Committee and the President's Council. He was Master of Music at Wesley Church, Newquay for fifty-one years, conducted the Newquay Choral Society and the Cornwall Methodist District choir ('Celtic Chorale'), which he founded in 1982, and was musical director of the Liskeard Operatic and Dramatic Society. For his outstanding services to music, he was appointed a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd in 1981 and awarded the FRSA in 1994 and MBE in 1995. His tune 'Polwhele' appeared twice in Hymns and Psalms (336, 761), but did not survive into Singing the Faith. He died on 12 August 2006.

Category: Person
Comment on this entry